Gender Studies 204CM - Women and Gender in the Study of Culture: 'Critical Relationality'

Grounded in queer, feminist, and decolonial concerns with social belonging, this class begins from the critical insight that "the family" is neither an inevitable nor ideal way to organize our social worlds. From histories of marriage to sciences of mating systems to politics of polyamory, we will explore monogamy's meanings and how its logics shape our worlds. Drawing on indigenous, multispecies, crip, and queer feminist insights, we will also explore relating and belonging beyond the settler family. Over the course of the semester students will become familiar with debates about human nature and belonging and a variety of critical and creative approaches to reading and engaging them.